The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday demonstrated its electoral supremacy over the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led opposition in Tamil Nadu by winning the Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi seats where bypolls were held on May 14.
The AIADMK nominee at Kancheepuram, T Mythili, defeated DMK's B M Kumar by a margin of 17,436 votes.
Mythili secured 87,164 votes against the 69,728 polled by Kumar.
At Gummidipoondi, AIADMK's K S Vijayakumar defeated B Venkatachalapathy by a bigger margin of 27,162 votes.
Vijayakumar got 83,716 votes against the DMK candidate's 56,554 votes.
The bypolls assumed significance as it was a test for the ruling AIADMK and the DMK-led opposition to prove their strength after last year's Lok Sabha polls, in which the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance won all the 39 seats.
The byelections were also important as the state would be going to the assembly polls in another one year.
The AIADMK and the DMK, alongwith its allies, took the bypolls seriously and utilised the services of Union ministers as well as state ministers for campaigning.
Union ministers P Chidambaram, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja, E V K S Elangovan and R Velu actively campaigned for the DMK's nominees, while the entire cabinet of Tamil Nadu camped in the constituencies.
The DMK entrusted its second-rung leaders, M K Stalin and Arcot N Veerasamy, to lead the campaign.
For AIADMK supremo, J Jayalalithaa, it is a personal triumph as she had campaigned for her party's nominees vigourously.
The byelections were necessitated due to the deaths of AIADMK's S S Thirunavukkarassu at Kancheepuram and K Sudarsanam in Gummidipoondi.
